Both the office and maintenance teams share the burden when it comes to service requests . In my opinion the office team sets the maintenance team up for success . Something as seemingly benign as writing down requests on a notepad or sticky-note or stock piling requests and then entering them all at once can have a huge impact on the process .
Imagine you are a Service Tech and throughout the day you stop by the office to check your inbox for new requests . First stop at 10am – no tickets . Second stop before lunch – no tickets . Third stop after lunch – no tickets . Fourth stop at 2pm – 5 tickets . Fifth stop at 4pm – 8 tickets ! Who can possibly resolve 8 tickets before the end of the business day ?
And with 8 tickets and one hour to complete them all , how courteous and professional do you think the Service Technician will be with they enter the apartment home ? And if they are racing to complete the request , they may not worry about cleanliness , quality and attention to detail . And unfortunately , some residents will not receive a same day completion .
Getting hit with a bulk of requests at the end of the day will also surely impact team communication . A Service Technician may choose not to alert the office about any delays or incomplete requests if s / he is frustrated by receiving an overload of requests late in the day . So if the maintenance and office teams are not communicating , who ’ s going to notify the resident of the delay ?
The one question on the survey which has the greatest impact on all the others relates to speed . Residents start the clock the moment they tell someone there ’ s a problem . That could be by phone , email , portal , a note in the drop box or a casual mention to a team member while out and about the community . The mental clock is ticking … and the clock does not stop until the problem no longer exists . This question speaks to much more than the actual repair time .
It cannot be stressed enough the importance of entering in each ticket as they come into the office . If a resident places a call for service at 10am but the ticket isn ’ t entered until 3pm , the team has essentially lost 5 hours in which that request could have been resolved . That 10am ticket may not be resolved until the following business day , essentially a full 24 hours after the request was made . In the mind of the resident , that could equate to 2 full days .
Here ’ s an example : Mr . Jones places a request at 10am Monday morning , but it does not get entered into the system until 3pm Monday afternoon . Maintenance is not made aware of the request until 4pm on Monday and therefore could not resolve it before leaving for the day . The work order sits until Tuesday when it finally gets resolved sometime during that day . Mr . Jones is at work when the request is completed and therefore does not realize the work was done until he returns home at 7pm Tuesday evening . Start time : 10am Monday … Finish time : 7pm Tuesday .
1.6 million residents have determined that “ Value for rent paid ” is the # 1 satisfaction driver . Bottom line … residents have to have full access to everything they pay for . A resident who has to hand wash dishes night after night , while waiting for their dishwasher to be repaired is seriously questioning the value of living at that community . Out of order signs in the laundry room or fitness center and overflowing trash dumpsters impact a resident ’ s perception of value as well . If residents are questioning “ What exactly am I paying for ?” or “ Where is my money going ?” their renewal decision may not swing in your favor .
Make service requests a hassle-free , one and done experience for your residents whenever possible . Not only will they appreciate you for a job well done , your team will grow stronger in the areas of communication , professionalism and competence .
Lia Nichole Smith VP of Education and Consulting
SatisFacts ResearchTM